Second Chances: Bluestar's Choice
by Mossyheart
Summary: Bluestar, the leader of ThunderClan, faced much hardship in her life. She lost her mother, her sister, her mate, her kits, then her Clan. If she had another chance, she would do it all over... Welcome to another of the Second Chances book series! Rated T in case.


**Hello, fellow fanfictionists! Yes, yes, I've started another one. I'm just trying to get the twenty or so stories I've yet to write started, but I'm absolutely _loading_ up my plate on stories, so yeah. This one's going to be a bit different from the other _Second Chances_, _Breezepelt's_ _Redemption_, because Bluestar doesn't have a ton of close, living kin. So it'll be a restart of Bluestar's life. **

**I have decided to put Bluestar's Choice back up on FanFic, which I've been wanting to do! I'm putting it back up to show the Critics United that they have _no control_ over me! I'm not losing a second story to those _idiots_, no matter how much they pressure me over it! I'm _sick_ and _tired_ of being pushed around!**

**So, note to Critics United, don't bother me again. I'm sick of you trying to break my stories apart, one by one. I'm tired of it, and I won't stand for it anymore.**

**CAN CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR **_**BLUESTAR'S PROPHECY**_

**Anyway, enjoy chapter one of **_**Second Chances: Bluestar's Choice**_**!**

Bluestar skidded to a halt at the top of the slope; the stench of dogs hit her throat. Below, the ferns shook as dark shapes swarmed through the gully. Fireheart's orange pelt flashed like flame through the greenery. He was keeping a good distance between himself and the pack, but the lead dog was breaking away and closing fast on the ThunderClan deputy_. No! Not that one! You cannot use him as prey!_

Bluestar flung herself down the slope. Gulping air, muscles burning, she weaved around the trees, her paws skidding on the leafy forest floor. She hurtled through a swath of ferns, running blind as the leaves whipped her face. The gorge was close by. She could hear the river crashing between the sheer gray walls. Would Fireheart really be able to lure the dog pack over the edge? What if the pack's leader caught him first?

She erupted from the bracken and scrabbled to a stop in a clearing at the edge of the cliff. Leaves sprayed into the chasm as her paws slipped and slid. _Oh, StarClan, no!_

Fireheart was dangling from the glistening jaws of a huge dog. The ThunderClan deputy struggled, spitting with fury. The dog shook him, its eyes shining with triumph, but its clumsy paws were skittering dangerously close to the edge of the gorge.

"I will not let you destroy my Clan!" Bluestar roared. She flung herself at Fireheart's tormentor, slamming headfirst into its flank.

The dog dropped Fireheart and spun around in surprise.

Bluestar crouched and unsheathed her claws. Blood roared in her ears but she felt no fear. She had not felt this alive for moons. She lashed out at the dog's muzzle, but her claws raked empty air. The dog was sliding away from her! The ground beneath its hind legs was crumbling. Shards of stone showered down the steep face of the gorge as the dog's paws scrabbled to get a grip, but its blunt claws were slithering on the leaf-strewn forest floor as its haunches dragged its hind legs backward over the cliff.

The pack thundered closer.

"Bluestar!" Fireheart warned.

But Bluestar didn't take her eyes from the pack leader. She was locked in its panicked gaze as dogs began to crash through the bracken behind her.

The pack was upon them.

Bluestar dug her claws into the soft earth as the air suddenly soured with fear. The lunging dogs had seen the gorge, and their howls turned to yelps as they skidded at its edge. Bluestar held her ground as a desperate yowl echoed down the chasm. The first dog had fallen. Its body thumped against the cliff, and there was a moment of quiet before she heard it splash into the roaring water below.

Bluestar narrowed her eyes, still fixed on the pack leader. "You should never have threatened ThunderClan!" she hissed.

Suddenly the dog stretched its head forward and grasped her foreleg in its jaws. She felt the ground slide beneath her as the dog dragged her with it over the edge. Wind roared around her, blasting her pelt as she fell. The river swirled and foamed below. She scrabbled desperately against the cold wet air and struggled free of the dog just a moment before she hit the water.

The freezing river knocked the breath from her body. Blind, she struggled against the current, fighting her way toward air, her heart gripped by panic. Goosefeather's prophecy burned in her mind: Water will destroy you.

Her thick fur, heavy with water, dragged her down. The river tumbled all around her; she didn't know which way was up. Her lungs screamed for air. Terror scorched through her. She was going to drown, there in the foaming waters of the gorge.

_Don't give up_! A meow sounded clear and familiar through the roar of the water.

_Oakheart?_

The father of her kits was murmuring in her ears: _It's like running through the forest. Let your paws do the work. Raise your chin. Let the water carry you up_.

His voice seemed to lift her, calming her panic, and she found that her paws were churning steadily through the water. Her heart, tight with pain, slowed as she strained to raise her chin, until at last the wind whipped her face. Coughing and gagging, she snatched a gulp of air.

_That's the way_, Oakheart whispered in her ear.

His voice sounded so gentle, so welcoming. Perhaps she should just let the river sweep her away into the softness of his fur.

_Bluestar, swim_! _Head for the bank_! Oakheart's mew was sharp now. _Our kits are waiting_.

_Our_ _kits_! The thought of them hit her like a lightning bolt.

_You can't leave them without saying good-bye._

Energy surged through Bluestar, and she began to fight once more. A dark shape buffeted her, knocking her underwater again, but she struggled to the surface, spluttering as water filled her mouth and caught in her throat. The rolling body of a dog tumbled past her and was swept downstream.

_If a dog can't fight this current, how can I?_

The treetops blurred overhead as the river swirled her along.

_You can do it_! Oakheart urged. Bluestar churned at the water, but her exhausted legs felt like sodden leaves, flailing uselessly.

Suddenly teeth grasped her scruff. Was Oakheart going to drag her to safety? Bluestar blinked water from her eyes long enough to glimpse orange fur.

_Fireheart_!

The ThunderClan deputy had gotten hold of her.

"Keep your head up!" he growled through clenched jaws.

Bluestar tried to help him, but her pelt was heavy and her paws were too tired to fight the weight of water. Fireheart's teeth tore at her scruff as the water dragged her down.

Then another body brushed hers.

_One of the dogs?_

More teeth bit her scruff. Paws clutched at her flanks, heaving her upward.

She felt the strong, gentle movement of cats around her. Was StarClan carrying her to its hunting grounds?

Barely conscious, she let herself be dragged through the water until pebbles scraped her flank and she felt solid earth beneath her. Paws and teeth heaved her up the gritty shore and laid her on soft grass. Her chest felt as if it were packed with stones, making each breath a struggle. Her eyes stung, too filled with water to see.

"Bluestar?"

She recognized the mew of Mistyfoot. _What about Stonefur? Is he here, too?_

"We're both here." A strong paw pressed against her flank.

Oakheart had been right. Their kits had been waiting for her.

Bluestar fought to open her eyes. She could just make out the shape of Stonefur. His wide shoulders were silhouetted against the green canopy of trees. So much like his father. Mistyfoot stood beside him, her sodden pelt clinging to her frame.

Bluestar felt breath on her cheek.

"Is she okay?" came the voice of her daughter.

Fireheart was leaning in. "Bluestar, it's Fireheart. You're all right now. You're safe."

Bluestar hardly heard him. She was gazing at her kits. "You saved me," she murmured.

"Shhh. Don't try to talk," Mistyfoot urged.

_But there's so much to say!_ Bluestar stretched her muzzle forward. "I want to tell you something…. I want to ask you to forgive me for sending you away." As she coughed, water bubbled at her lips, but she forced herself to keep going. "Oakheart promised me Graypool would be a good mother to you."

"She was," Stonefur meowed flatly.

Bluestar flinched. "I owe her so much." She wished she had more breath to explain. "Oakheart, too, for mentoring you so well." Why hadn't she found a way to tell them this before? "I watched you as you grew up, and I saw how much you had to give to the Clan who adopted you. If I had made a different choice, you would have given all your strength to ThunderClan." She shuddered, struggling for air. "Forgive me."

She stared at her kits, and time seemed to halt as she watched Mistyfoot and Stonefur exchange an uncertain glance. _Please forgive me._

"She suffered a lot of pain for her choice," Fireheart pleaded for her. "Please forgive her."

_Stop it!_ Forgiveness would mean nothing if it had to be dragged from them. She willed Fireheart to hold his tongue.

Mistyfoot bent her head and licked Bluestar's cheek. "We forgive you, Bluestar."

"We forgive you," Stonefur echoed.

Bluestar closed her eyes as her two kits began to lap at her drenched pelt. It was the first time she had shared tongues with them since the snowy day she had left them with Oakheart.

There was no more need to cling to her last life. Firestar would kindle a new flame and blaze through the forest in her place. ThunderClan was safe. She closed her eyes and gave way to dizzying blackness.

Then the darkness was gone, replaced with blinding white. Bluestar screwed up her eyes against the intensity of the light. When she reopened them, she stood in StarClan's hunting grounds, surrounded by the nine cats who gave her her nine lives. Pinestar, and his gift of compassion, Mumblefoot, who granted endurance, Larksong's humor, Sweetpaw, who gave her hope, Sunstar, who gave her his own courage, Goosefeather, the crazy old medicine cat who gave her patience, Mosskit, her beautiful son, and his trusting nature, Moonflower, who gave her love, and Snowfur, her sister, killed on the Thunderpath by a monster, gave her pride. _I could have done without that one at some points_, she thought wryly of how unreasonable she had become in the moons preceding her death. _I authorized an attack on WindClan over a dead rabbit! It was probably just a fox, like Fireheart said_.

Pinestar, Mumblefoot, Larksong, Sweetpaw, Sunstar, Goosefeather, Mosskit, Moonflower, and Snowfur weren't alone, however. They were joined by Redtail, her beloved deputy, murdered by Tigerclaw -_Tigerstar,_ she told herself-, Oakheart, her mate, dead by a rockslide during a battle for Sunningrocks, Thrushpelt, her devoted old friend, killed by greencough, Lionheart, the loyal deputy, killed by a ShadowClan raid on the camp, Featherwhisker, the kind medicine cat, dead from a bout of greencough, Stonepelt, her first mentor, killed by old age, Stormtail, her father, dead of starvation in a hard leafbare, Spottedleaf, the medicine cat, killed by Clawface, the ShadowClan warrior, as he robbed the ThunderClan nursery, stealing Swiftkit and Brightkit from their mother and Clanmates. More and more cats from her past showed. Pinestar, Adderfang, Tawnyspots, Sparrowpelt, Robinwing, Rosetail, Fuzzypelt, Windflight, Swiftbreeze, Poppydawn…

"Welcome, Bluefur."

_Bluefur?_

An orange tom with huge white paws, his pelt nearly completely transparent, stepped forward. "I am Thunderstar, the first leader of ThunderClan. We have gathered from ThunderClan, along with some of the eldest cats of StarClan, and have decided to allow a Second Chance, one of the few ever allowed."

"What is a Second Chance?"

"A rerun, of your life the way _you_ wished it had gone. There, were a few- _mishaps_ along your path, and it didn't deserve to happen to you. You followed the warrior code, and led your Clan through trials and hardships. But there was too much _pressure_ on you. Your Clan depended on you, your kits, and you felt like you failed them. But you didn't. You never did. They'll forgive you, and remember the good times joyfully as they mourn for their leader."

"Do you want it, Bluefur?" Oakheart asked.

"I have a choice?"

"Always."

"Will my Clan be safe?"

"Of course."

Bluestar took a deep breath. "Then yes."

The white gave away, as, at the edge of her vision, darkness spread, enveloping the StarClan cats, and Bluestar allowed it to swallow her.

**Hope you enjoyed the prologue of _Bluestar's Choice_, leave a review if you do!**

'**Bye!**

**-**_**Mossyheart**_


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